Dark Legends
by Masqeurain3
Summary: Dark Legends is a Pokemon fan-fic. With a fully thought-out story and a lot of mystery, Dark Legends is one of the deepest Pokemon fan-fics around. It follows the progress of 2 storylines, which are more connected than you may think.
1. The Mystery Begins

**Chapter 1 – The Mystery Begins**

"Keep digging, we are sure to find it soon". Hundreds of miles from civilization, in the middle of the desert, five Pokémon researchers dug into the side of an isolated cliff face. It was that time of day when the sun is at it's hottest and dehydration starts to take over, everything is annoying and you just want to cool down and sleep. The scientists had set up a small camp at this cliff some days ago, with the mission to dig until _'it'_ was found.

"We are tired of digging. Can't we just have a break?" complained one of the scientists, the rest of the diggers joining in to attempt to further the plea.

"No! We are on strict orders to find _'it'_ as fast as possible. Now get back to digging!" The leader of the investigative team didn't like to hear anything from the diggers. He sat back on his deck chair, with his magazine, under the shade of his outdoor tent, and began to read this months issue of "PokéScience".

For more and more hours, the diggers worked endlessly at the cliff face in an attempt to find _it_. There was a sudden _'chink'_ of a shovel blade against something hard. The digger got a little excited then, and rammed the shovel blade into the solid object, and immediately felt an enormous surge of energy pass through the handle and throw him backwards onto the hot, sandy ground.

"We found it! We found it!" yelled the diggers. The team leader threw aside his magazine and bolted to the cliff face to investigate. He saw what they had been looking for. He gently touched the cold, hard surface of _'it'_. It was solid but very smooth. He could feel the energy pulsing through the solid object.

"Amazing", he whispered, so quiet it was barely audible to the nearest digger.

The team leader stood upright and grabbed the shovel of the closest digger. "Lets bring this baby home", he said.

He launched the shovel straight into the cliff face next to the discovery site, but hit another piece of the strange thing. This time, when the energy pulsed through the shovel, it sent the leader soaring fifty feet in the air, where he landed quite a distance away with a dull thud. He didn't move.

Suddenly, the wall began to glow a brilliant blue colour, then there was a flash and all the diggers were dead. The glowing died down, until there was no light coming from the object in the wall.

-- -- -- -- --

It was a very cold morning in Sandgem town. Colder than usual. During the night there had been some light snowfall, which was very uncommon for the area. The windows on the houses were beginning to frost over. Professor Rowan's laboratory could be seen in the distance, a thin stream of smoke slowly floating out of the chimney. It was all very quiet, except for in one household.

In this one particular house, lived a teenage boy named Zane. On this particular cold morning, Zane was excited because today he could officially become a Pokémon trainer. Strictly speaking, he had already been a trainer for two years, but only around the neighbourhood.

Zane had been given a Pokémon for his birthday two years ago. It was a young Snover that his father had brought back from his visit to the Snowpoint temple, way north in Snowpoint city. From the moment Zane and his Snover had met, they had been the best of friends. They shared a special bond with each other.

Since then, Snover had grown to be a relatively tough opponent. All the kids around the area had their own Pokémon, and Snover had beaten them all. Of course, they weren't the most difficult opponents, being mostly Budews and Chinglings, but they were all wins nonetheless.

The time was eight in the morning, and Zane was excitedly awaiting for eight-thirty when Professor Rowan's lab would open its doors and allow him to get a new Pokémon and start his journey.

His mother was still asleep, and his father was off in some other region Zane had never heard of, adventuring as he normally does.

"Two past eight, oh come on, that was way more than two minutes", Zane thought to himself as he desperately tried to occupy himself with something to make the time fly. He was fiddling with an empty Pokéball, making it open and close.

"Three past eight… Ahhh I can't wait any longer". Zane quickly scrawled a note on a piece of paper and left it on the kitchen table for his mother, snatched up his backpack which contained his Snover, and ran out the door, heading for Professor Rowan's lab.

It wasn't very far to the lab, a kilometre and a half maybe, but in the cold morning air, it starts to feel like five when you are puffing and feeling sharp pains in your chest. The light snowfall during the night could be seen on the trees on either side of the pathway. In the distance, a Pidgey cried out. After that, the trees slowly started to become livelier, as Pokémon began to wake.

Eventually Zane arrived at the doorstep of the professor's lab. He checked his watch, only eight twenty-five.

"Oh come on!" he said out loud. After what seemed like the longest five minutes in the history of the universe, a worker at the laboratory could be seen through the slick glass doors holding a set of keys. After a little fiddling with the keys, the doors were finally unlocked, and Zane went bolting through.

Zane was so excited that he almost went head-first into the wall, but luckily he pulled out of it just before he made contact. He arrived at the big steel doors that lead into the lab. Trying to calm himself, Zane knocked heavily on the door three times, then waited. After a small wait, the doors were pulled open from the inside, and standing in the doorway was Professor Rowan himself.

"Ah… you must be Zane. Do come in".


	2. The Start of a New Journey

**Chapter 2 – The Start of a Journey**

"All of them? What do you mean 'all of them'?"

The man was sitting at his large desk, desperately thinking of what to do next. He had just been informed of the deaths of his researchers out in the desert. A small sweat was forming on his forehead.

With a sigh, he spoke into the telephone receiver, "Thank you", and hung up. He sat back in his chair, thinking heavily. A quick spin of the chair and he was facing the glass back wall of his office. His office overlooked a large lake surrounded by mountains. It was a very secluded area.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. Something had just twigged in his mind. He swung back around to his desk excitedly, almost forgetting the loss of several expert researchers, and grabbed the phone. Within seconds he was speaking to a research team leader.

"Brenson, there has been a change of plans. Get your team out to Iron Island, I have reason to believe there is another one out there".

There was a short pause, then through the receiver he heard "Shouldn't be a problem", and then silence.

The man in the office sat back in his chair, closed his eyes, and went back to thinking.

-- -- -- --

Zane followed Professor Rowan through the large steel doors and into a large laboratory. The walls were filled with shelves and shelves of Poké Balls. Attached to one shelf was a small label that read "Starters". The two walked over to that particular shelf, and Professor Rowan took down three Poké Balls.

"Now Zane, inside these three Poké Balls are Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup. Each of these Pokémon possess their own unique qualities, and all have the potential to become great."

Zane stared intently at the three Poké Balls in the Professor's hands.

"This will be your first Pokémon, correct?"

"Umm… No sir… I already have a Snover. He is in my backpack."

"May I see him?" asked Professor Rowan.

A little surprised, Zane took off his backpack and began to rummage inside of it. He had a little trouble finding it due to nerves, but eventually presented a highly polished Poké Ball with a small snowflake sticker just above the button.

"Judging by the shine on that Poké Ball, I assume you really love your Snover".

Zane answered, "Yes sir, Snover is everything to me. My best friend".

Zane pressed the small button on the ball and with a flash of red light, Snover materialised in front of the Professor. Without a word, Professor Rowan began to examine the Snover, concentrating hard. Snover looked slightly puzzled.

"Sno…Snover?"

After a fairly lengthy examination, the Professor turned to Zane and said, "Your Snover is top notch. It is very healthy and well looked after. From what I can see, it is very strong. It is quite obvious that you have put quite a lot of care and attention into raising this Pokémon".

A surge of happiness hit Zane. He wasn't sure he had done a good enough job. The Professor thought for a minute, while Zane returned the Snover to its Poké Ball.

"I have worked with Pokémon my entire life. I have given countless trainers their first Pokémon, seen them progress through their journey. But you are something special. I can't put my finger on it, but something about you just tells me you will be a great trainer. I think it is your Snover, it is already been raised as if an expert Pokémon trainer has been raising it since it was young".

Now Zane really was happy. Too happy to speak.

The Professor continued, "At any rate, I don't think any of my starter Pokémon would be best suited to you. Although young, they are too old for you. Perhaps I should start you out with something a bit younger, something you can raise from scratch and bond with. Yes, follow me, I have just the thing".

Zane followed Professor Rowan out through another set of large steel doors, and found himself in a long, white room with several identical large machines side by side.

"This is the incubator room. In each of these machines is a Pokémon egg. Now, I know what is in most of these, having bred them from Pokémon myself, but there is one that I found just last night. It was on the pathway to Sandgem Town. I saw it on my way back home from the lab. I haven't had time to examine it yet".

"Are you giving me that egg?" Zane asked slowly.

A wide smile broke on Professor Rowan's face. "Yes. I think that a Pokémon you hatch yourself will be better suited to you than a Pokémon that has been bred in large numbers. It will give you the best possible start to your future as a trainer. Just make sure the Pokémon that hatches from the egg sees you first."

Zane was lost for words, he just stood there with his mouth hanging slightly open. Professor Rowan led Zane up to one of the machines in the room.

"This is the egg you will be hatching".

Professor Rowan signalled to the egg inside the incubator. It was slightly larger than most of the eggs in the room, barely smaller than a Soccer ball. The egg had no spots on it at all. It was entirely a light brown colour, except for a dark grey stripe in the middle.

The Professor powered down the machine and with much fiddling, managed to remove the egg from the glass chamber. He smiled, and handed it to Zane.

"It is so smooth… It feels almost like metal."

"I have a suspicion about what is inside the egg, but then again, I will let it be a surprise for you. Who knows, I may be wrong."

"Thankyou so much Professor. I can't wait to see what hatches out of it".

"Don't let me down Zane, raise that Pokémon with the utmost care and attention. It will care for you just as long as you care for it."

Professor Rowan walked Zane out of the laboratory. They went outside to the front door to say goodbye. It was still very cold outside, despite the sun shining brightly down on the town.

"Good luck on your journey Zane, I know you will do splendidly".

"Thanks again Professor", Zane replied.

Zane began to walk back along the path. He had gone about twenty metres when he heard the Professor calling to him. He turned around.

"By the way", the Professor shouted out, "Happy Birthday".

Zane smiled and continued his walk back home. The morning felt so much like a dream; he thought he would wake up at any moment. He hadn't even bothered to look at the time.

"Quarter past nine, I'd better get a move on". Zane broke into a run. Before long Zane arrived home to see his mother sitting on the veranda waiting for him.

"How did it go?" she asked him excitedly.

"He said my Snover was excellent, and he gave me a Pokémon egg!".

His mother looked slightly puzzled, but quickly became excited again.

"That's very kind of him. Anyway, it is very cold out here, lets go inside and have breakfast, I still have to give you your present.

Zane went inside after his mother, and sat down to a plate of his favourite breakfast meal; a plate of bacon and eggs, with waffles and ice cream. Needless to say, Zane hardly tasted his breakfast due to the excitement of the morning. He couldn't wait to get outside and head out on his adventure.

After breakfast, his mother presented him with a nicely sized box, wrapped in a beautiful blue wrapping paper. With a hurry, Zane unwrapped the present, pulled the lid off the cardboard box, and saw the things he forgot he would need being a trainer.

Inside the box was a Poké Ball belt, designed to attach six Poké Balls to, six Poké Balls to go with the belt, a map, and last but certainly not least, a Pokétch. A Pokétch is a watch that essentially doubles as a small computer and a telephone.

"I love it! I forgot I would need all this stuff to be a trainer".

His mother just smiled happily.

"Well, I guess you will be off soon. Don't forget to call. Also, put a sweater on, because it is quite cold out."

Zane hurried up to his bedroom, pulled on a sweater, then bolted for the front door, grabbing his newly packed backpack on the way. He headed out along the road at a run with the intention of going straight to Jubilife City.


	3. The First Real Battle

**Chapter 3 – The First Real Battle**

The ocean was very calm. It was just after noon as the Pokémon tour boat was cruising at a steady pace along the smooth surface of the water. The day was as beautiful as the water was calm. The tour boat carried roughly thirty tourists, all very eager to see the ocean and the nearby islands. The tour boat had was quite large and luxurious. At the front was a flat glass surface designed as a window into the mysterious water world below.

Many Lumineon and Remoraid could be seen through the floor, swimming happily. There was even the occasional Mantine. The boat was a good distance from land when the tour guide spoke through the microphone.

"And to the left in the distance you can the see the magnificent Iron Island. If you look quite carefully, you can also the west coastline of Sinnoh on the horizon."

There was some quiet murmuring going on between passengers now.

"Iron Island is our next destination, where we will take a tour of one of the caves and stop for a lunch break."

The tour boat was slowly turning towards the island in the distance. It was probably about ten nautical miles until they reached the land. A lot of the tourists were now standing on the glass floor peering down into the depths of the ocean. Suddenly, a shadow flashed past the glass of the floor.

The tourists got a sudden shock and excitedly started to ask the tour guide what it could've been.

"It was most likely just a Wailord deep down". The tour guide had seen the flash as well, and knew that the flash was too fast for a Wailord, as they move quite slowly. He didn't want to panic the guests.

He continued, "We are now only about five minutes from reaching the shore. When we depart the boat, feel free to wander around the island as you please. The cave tour is at two-thirty, which lasts for an hour. If you do not attend the cave tour, please note that we will be departing from the island at four, so try not to miss the boat."

Just as the excited guests started to take in the information, one of them suddenly pointed at the area of sky above the island.

"What's happening?" the guest asked nervously.

The clouds above the island were starting to spread apart from each other, forming a circle around the island. It happened quite quickly. It looked almost like something was pushing the clouds aside.

Without warning, a large beam of white light shot out from somewhere on the island and rose up through the centre of the clouds. A rumble could be heard from the island, and then a shockwave hit the boat, which then capsized. All of the tourists were trapped underneath the boat. One guest managed to get out from underneath the boat and desperately swam to the surface. The first thing he saw before other guests started to surface was an enormous mushroom cloud coming from the centre of Iron Island.

"What the hell?"

-- -- -- --

Zane was beginning to puff as he reached the top of the hill. He was on his way to Jubilife City to begin his Pokémon journey. The route from Sandgem Town to the city had a lot of hills, and the path was through thick forest.

As Zane made the final step to reach the peak of the almost torturous hill, he looked up from staring at the ground in exhaustion. He was almost there. This hill was definitely the largest and hardest to climb on the way to Jubilife City, and he had just beaten it. Ahead was a magnificent view. Zane could see the tops of all the trees along the path, and in the distance could see Jubilife City itself.

Jubilife City was spread out over a large area, with skyscrapers in the middle and office blocks on the outskirts. Although visible from the top of the hill, the city was still roughly half a day's walk.

Zane sighed heavily and decided to stop and have a break. He was getting very hungry. With a shrug of his shoulder, he took off his backpack and placed it gently on the grass to the side of the path. The backpack was rather roomy, having a large front pocket and a large back pocket. The back pocket is where Zane's egg was kept, wrapped in a scarf. The front pocket is where he kept all of his newly acquired equipment.

Zane began to rifle through the front pocket in search of food. He was hit with a sudden realisation: he forgot to pack food.

"Arghh CRAP!!!"

He roared so loudly that some startled Starly flew to the next tree. Zane was stuck in between Sandgem Town and Jubilife City without a scrap of food, and an extra mouth to feed.

After some more rummaging in his backpack, Zane removed his Snover's Poké Ball and called out the Pokémon.

"Snooover".

Snover looked around, taking in its surroundings, then looked at Zane with a look almost like the infamous 'Puppy Dog Eyes'.

"I'm sorry pal, I haven't got any food. I promise I will find some though. Have a stretch and come over here. I have something cool to show you".

While Snover stretched and sidled over to where Zane was standing, Zane carefully opened the back pocket of his backpack and gently removed the bright red scarf that carried the egg.

Zane began to unwrap the egg. "This is a gift from Professor Rowan. He says it will hatch soon, and he doesn't know what will hatch out of it. It will be the next addition to our team."

Snover looked at it with a slightly puzzled expression.

"Sno?"

"I've got to keep it warm, so I can't take it out much. You will have another friend to play with soon".

Zane began to put the egg back into the bag when he heard a ringing sound coming from the Sandgem side of the hill. He turned around just in time to dodge the bicycle that was powering straight towards him. Zane dived to the side and landed very close to where the bag was lying. He wondered how on Earth the rider of the bike managed to power up the hill, but just chalked it up to strong legs.

"Oh! I am so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" called the bicycle rider as he pulled up and hopped off.

The rider helped Zane up whilst continuing to apologise.

Slightly dazed, Zane said, "Don't worry 'bout it".

"Oh I am so stupid sometimes! I shouldn't have been going so fast. I wasn't even concentrating."

"Really, its OK. I'm fine".

The bike rider apparently had a short attention span, as he was already starting on Zane's Snover.

"Wow what Pokémon is that? It looks so cool! Is it strong? Is it an Ice type? It looks awesome!"

Zane was starting to get annoyed now.

"Slow down, slow down. He is a Snover, and yes he is Ice as well as Grass."

"Ooh can I battle it? It would be so fun".

Before Zane had time to protest with complaints of starvation and energy loss, the bicycle rider already had his Poké Ball at the ready.

"Snover, are you up for this?"

Snover had a look of determination in his eyes and nodded, "Sno".

Snover followed Zane back about ten paces and stood in the middle of the path facing the rider. The bicycle rider had a mad smile on his face as he pressed the button on the Poké Ball and began to call out his Pokémon.

"Get ready".

Zane and Snover were waiting what seemed like an hour for the rider's Pokémon to materialise on the ground. Eventually the Pokémon appeared, and Zane thought to himself, "This should be easy".

The Pokémon sitting on the ground flared up and cried out, "Shinx!"

Zane decided to attack first.

"Snover, attack Shinx with Powder Snow!"

Snover sucked in a large breath of air and released it all at once in a freezing gust of snow.

"Shinx, jump over the Powder Snow and use Spark!"

The bicycle rider's reaction was lightning fast, as was Shinx. In a flash, the Shinx was above the Powder Snow and charging up a Spark. Zane panicked, he had never been in a battle like this. He realised that all the opponents he defeated before his journey were just easy game. Weak opponents that didn't use tactics. Zane was used to just firing attacks back and forth until one Pokémon fainted.

Zane didn't expect this kind of move from an opponent and it was a split second before Shinx Spark hit Snover square in the chest. Luckily because of Snover's Ice-Grass type, the attack didn't do too much damage.

Zane tried again to attack.

"Snover, use Razor Leaf".

Snover flailed its arms and incredibly sharp leaves flew from them, heading straight for Shinx.

"Shinx, dodge it to the side and use Bite on the Snover!"

Again, Shinx showed lightning reflexes by quickly jumping to the side and charging at Snover. Before Zane even had time to react, Shinx had clamped its jaws around Snover's arm. Snover howled in pain and staggered backwards. The bicycle rider used this as a chance to send another attack Snovers way.

"Shinx, attack Snover with Tackle."

It was all over so quickly. There was a flash of black and blue and Snover was on the ground unconscious.

"Yay! I win!"

The bicycle rider was jumping up and down and clapping his hands. Zane's heart was racing. A Shinx had just taken down his supposedly unbeatable Pokémon. The bicycle rider was walking over to Zane to shake his hand.

"Yay! Good match! That was fun wasn't it?"

Zane was absolutely speechless, lost for words. The bicycle rider recalled his Pokémon, spun around, then hopped on the bike and with a quick ring of the bell, was off down the track towards Jubilife City.

Zane started to calm down now. He recalled his Snover and packed the Poké Ball into his backpack. He kept replaying the battle over and over in his mind.

"How did I let that happen? I thought I was a good battler…"

His emotions started to flare up and he sat up against a tree with his head between his knees. His first day of being an official Pokémon trainer and he had been brutally defeated in a battle, was stuck a long way from civilization without food, and it was already beginning to reach late afternoon.

Could things get much worse?


	4. Into the City

**Chapter 4 – Into the City**

The afternoon was nice and silent, or would be if not for the large black helicopter that was prowling the sky around the remains of Iron Island. The chopper was filled with secretive-looking people all dressed in fine suits. They were all looking down at the island while a computer technician was trying to establish a live video feed with their headquarters.

Iron Island was virtually untouched around the edges, but in the dead centre of the land mass was an enormous crater, barely smoking anymore. Along the curved walls of the crater there were many little black holes that were probably once secret tunnels through the island.

Of all the destruction, only one building was left standing near the waters edge. It could hardly be made out from the chopper, but it was an insignificant boat rental shop.

"Sir! I have made connection to HQ! Get ready to speak."

The technician started up the video camera and directed it to the face of someone who seemed rather important. After a few seconds, some static could be seen on a small hand-held video screen. Following that were the words, "Coming in! Can you hear me?"

The important-looking man began to speak. "Roger that, and yes we can hear you".

The live video feed had a slight delay in transmission and after second or two a face appeared on the small screen.

It was obvious immediately that the face belonged to a man. This man was the boss of the research company. He looked very stressed.

"Ok… Please explain…. Please explain what happened…"

"Sir, all we can tell at the current time is that where there was once an island with many mountains, there is now a huge crater. We are trying to get a better idea of the situation as we speak Sir!"

The man on the screen was now covering his face with his hand. "Ok… Please show me the island…" The boss half-hoped that this was just a very cruel practical joke and that everything would be in good health.

The camera swung around to the side of the helicopter and managed to get the entire view of Iron Island on-screen.

"Oh god! This is bad… Really bad… THIS WASN"T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!!!"

The man on the screen was now in a severe state of panic. He was no longer in the view of the camera in his office. Barely audible shouting was coming from the built-in mini speaker.

The helicopter continued to circle the remains of Iron Island as the passengers waited for something to happen on the video screen. It was a good ten minutes before anything happened. The man sat slowly back down at his office desk and looked directly into the camera. He was completely red-faced and was sweating intensely.

"What do you want us to do next Sir?" asked the guy in the chopper.

"I want you to find it! Get down there and keep looking. It won't cause another explosion for quite some time, so now is the best time to strike. Don't come back without it!"

With those final words the video was cut and all that could be heard was the sound of static.

-- -- -- --

Zane was starving now. In fact, he was at a whole new level of starving. He felt like he was wasting away to nothing, despite his rather filling breakfast that morning.

Sometime after his embarrassing defeat by a Shinx, he decided that if he were to survive the night that he must try his hardest to make it to Jubilife City. The city was closer than his home back at Sandgem Town, so he had decided that the obvious choice was to continue and not turn back.

From hilltop to the city it was roughly twelve kilometres. Since his loss, Zane had travelled about four kilometres and with a large hill up ahead, could no longer see the city in the distance.

It was becoming very late in the afternoon, drawing closer and closer to dusk. The sky was a brilliant crimson colour as the sun was setting and Zane realised that he needed to pick up the pace. The only problem was that he was out of energy. Out of energy in the same way that the average teenager is when they get home from a hard day at school.

It was rather quiet, and with the light torturously vanishing, Zane started to get scared. He wasn't sure what of. It could've been the darkness, but it also could've been the fear of getting lost in the dark despite the distinct and virtually straight path.

Beginning to panic slightly, Zane checked his Pokétch for the time. _'Six fifteen! I need to hurry before it gets dark.'_

He managed to dig up some energy from the depths of his body and started to jog. He was now past the hill that was blocking the view of Jubilife, and could see that the city was lit up like… well… like a city.

It was late dusk now and Zane was relying on the dim light of the few stars above to illuminate the path. The silence was agonising and with the fear of the darkness closing in all around him, panic began to take over.

"MUUUURRRRKROOWWWWW!!!"

The sudden high-pitched cry of a startled Murkrow set Zane off running a mile a minute. He was almost crying as he ran at full tilt through the darkness along the path. Visions of Pokémon jumping out of the bushes and ravaging him invaded his mind as he became more and more terrified. It was the quickest five kilometres he had ever ran.

As he was nearing a nervous breakdown, he popped out of the end of the forest path and the powerful lights of the city ahead lighted everything up.

Zane was immensely relieved. Tears were streaming down his face from his death sprint out of the forest. He was so relieved that he actually collapsed onto the ground and began kissing the cold grass.

After the brief mental breakdown Zane stood back up and started to shakily walk into the city. The city was amazing. Neon signs lined the sides of buildings, flashing lights painted the streets various different colours, and the noisy chatter of all the civilians made the place all the more lively.

After taking in all the exciting surroundings, hunger began to re-emerge, seemingly out of nowhere, and make Zane desperate for food again. He searched through his pockets for some money and managed to scrape together fifty Pokédollars. After a quick run through his backpack he also managed to gather another twenty-five.

"_Seventy-Five Pokédollars… That should last for a couple days"._

Naturally, large cities are peppered with restaurants so it wasn't difficult for Zane to find somewhere to eat. He ended up outside the front door of a cheap-looking fast-food restaurant. He went inside and wandered up to the service counter.

"Hello, thanks for choosing to dine at Joe's Burger and Pokémon food restaurant. What can I get for you tonight?"

Zane concentrated on the menu for a second, then replied, "Umm… I'll get a large beef and tomato monster burger, and… Umm… a bag of cheesy snow bites please".

"No problem, I'll just be a minute and get that for you".

Zane felt at his belt for his only Pokémon. With a quick press of the button he let his Snover out.

"We got some food buddy! I ordered your favourite."

Snover started jumping around excitedly as Zane turned back to the counter to pay for his meal.

"That'll be fifteen Pokédollars thanks".

Zane had no trouble paying up, and after grabbing the tray with the food on it, headed over to the dining area to feast on the cheap meal. He couldn't have unwrapped his burger any faster. He almost choked on his first mouthful in a desperate attempt to fill the void in his stomach. Across the table, Snover was pigging out just as fiercely on his cheesy snow bites.

It only took about three minutes for both of them to finish their meals and head out for somewhere to stay. Zane recalled his Snover before he left the fast-food restaurant and then headed out along the sidewalk in search of the nearest Pokémon Centre. Following signs was fairly easy even for Zane in such a tired state.

It probably took about thirty minutes to find the large Pokémon Centre, then about another five to find the front door. Eventually he managed to make his way inside and head to yet again, another counter.

Without even waiting to be greeted by Nurse Joy, Zane requested two beds for the night. Luckily, a night at the Pokémon Centre is free. Chansey showed Zane to the sleeping hall and left him to organise himself. He didn't remember what happened when he put his head on the nice, fluffy pillow of the bed, as he crashed almost instantly. It had been a long day.

He slept like a baby that night. Hopefully his second day as a Pokémon trainer would be better than his first.


	5. The Next Step

**Chapter 5 – The Next Step**

The boss laughed an evil laugh. "Hahaha! We have it! We finally have it! It may be only a third of the completed plan, but it brings us this much closer."

"Yes Richard, sir. I will make it my top priority to acquire the other two."

The boss sent his employee out of his office. Richard walked back to his elegant office chair and sat back in it smiling as wide as possible. He sat staring at the prize that his efforts had yielded. Held inside an electrical cage sat a large silver and black object. There was one peculiar thing about the object inside the cage. As Richard looked at the large object, it suddenly moved. He wasn't startled at this, as he already knew what it could do.

It started to make a loud noise that sounded almost like a mechanical roar. Two arms on the object took a swing at the electrical bars on the cage, and then retracted quickly when the pain of over three hundred volts of energy surged through its body.

"You can try to escape, you foolish Pokémon, but you will only fail". Richard started to laugh maniacally again. The Pokémon inside the cage stopped flailing and calmed down a little.

Suddenly there was a beep and an electronic voice saying, "You've got mail". Richard turned to his computer and double-clicked on the new e-mail in his inbox. The message read:

_Sir, here is the report on the newly acquired Pokémon. All details are complete and included. A team is being organised to investigate Mt. Coronet. We will report back as soon as we know anything._

Richard opened the attached report and began to read.

"_Four hundred and fifty-one point nine pounds…. Six foot three… Adamant nature…"_

After he finished reading the report, Richard sat back in his chair with a satisfied look on his face. He stared straight at the caged Pokémon and simply said, "You will be disposed of soon. You are merely a pawn in my elaborate chess game. Enjoy what little time you have left."

The Pokémon flared up again and tried desperately to break free of its cage. It wasn't hard to see that the poor creature was in pain, but it kept trying and trying. Suddenly the Pokémon began to glow a bright blue colour. Richard became extremely terrified for a split second and dived down to the floor behind his desk. Hiding behind the desk, Richard saw the reflection in the window of an enormous blue light. The light flashed brighter than anything he had ever seen before, and then the desk went flying over him and through the huge curtain window.

Numerous identical bursts of light sent different objects flying out the broken window until there was only one thing left. Richard knew that if he were to survive this following burst of light that he would need to get to the cage and press the 'stun' button.

He made a desperate sprint across the room, hoping against hell that he could make it. The terrifying excitement made the dash for survival seem like an hour long run. Richard made it to the cage just as the light burst was about to go off. The Pokémon in the cage saw that he was going for the 'stun' button and just as the burst went off, Richard managed to push the button.

The cage shot an enormous surge of electricity through the Pokémon, rendering it unconscious. At the same time as the surge, Richard let out a vile scream as blood began to spurt out of what was left of his hand. The Pokémon's attempt at stopping him wasn't wasted. The powerful attack had managed to amputate about two thirds of his hand.

The pain flooded into Richard like Hoover Dam had just burst. He lay writhing on the ground, losing blood fast. Everything started to go dark around the edges of his vision. Before he knew what was happening, he was lying still and silent on the floor in a large pool of scarlet blood.

-- -- -- --

It was early morning, and Zane was stretching his tiredness out in the way that feels almost godly. His previous day had been a complete and utter disaster, starting with a brutal defeat by a mere Shinx, and a panicky sprint through the dark forest.

Now he lay in the bed he had rented for the night at the Jubilife Pokémon Centre. In his tired stretching routine, he had almost completely forgotten about his Snover, all couped up inside its uncomfortable Poké Ball. Zane turned and looked at his Pokémon belt that was hanging over the bed railing behind his pillow. A moment later and Snover was also stretching.

After the spectacular stretching ritual, Zane rummaged through his backpack and removed his brown and grey Pokémon egg. He sat back on his bed and lovingly stroked it for a few minutes. It was nice and warm from its overnight stay in the bag. The egg had a more comfortable night than Zane did.

As he was rubbing it gently it vibrated gently for a second then stopped. "Wow! Snover come have a look at this!"

Snover sidled over to the side of the bed and Zane put it's hand (or what passes as a hand) on the egg.

"Snooooooooo………" Snover said slowly and calmly.

Zane began to rub the egg some more, and quickly realised that the spot where Snover had touched had become ice-cold. He quickly wrapped the egg back up and gently placed back into his backpack.

"I'm getting hungry, how about you Sno?" Snover nodded at Zane and the two of them headed out of the sleeping hall and into the lobby. It was lucky for Zane that the breakfast after a night at the centre is free, as he couldn't really afford to be spending too much until he went to a bank.

After a rather tasteless meal of scrambled Pidgey eggs on toast and a glass of Oran berry juice, Zane recalled Snover and exited the large Pokémon Centre and went into the city to have a look around.

Because the city didn't use cars very often, it was relatively easy for him to get from one block to another. There were hundreds and hundreds of useful little buildings peppered throughout the city, but one caught Zane's eye in particular. He couldn't give it a miss once looking at it.

He approached the glass automatic doors of the Pokémon Trainer School and saw a poster pinned up to the wall next to them. It read:

_Cheap Pokémon trainer lessons here! Only five Pokédollars an hour! Select one of our high-quality training classes and leave as a better trainer._

After the embarrassing defeat the previous day, Zane thought it was absolutely necessary for him to take a class to improve his battling skills. He walked into the building and approached the reception counter. The lady at the counter greeted him.

"Hi, welcome to the Jubilife training school, is this your first visit?"

"Uh, yeah this is my first time. Do you have a list of classes I can take?" The receptionist woman pointed to a rack of pamphlets on the counter.

"Have a look through one of these and see what classes you might like to try."

Zane picked up a pamphlet and began to study it. There were classes for all sorts of things to do with Pokémon. He read through them all. _'Pokémon types, I already know about all that… Pokémon attacks, know it… Pokémon diets, could be handy to know… Battling strategies, I think I will take that one.'_

"Umm, can I do an hour of battling strategies please?" Zane asked, putting five Pokédollars on the table.

"Not a problem, the next class starts in about five minutes, so you can take a seat over by the window and a teacher will come get you when it starts."

Zane headed over to the seating area where, coincidentally, there were a few other people sitting and waiting for the next class. Being as shy as he is, Zane didn't really engage in conversation with anyone, but another trainer about the same age s he was winked at him. Zane thought something about the trainer looked familiar.

Suddenly his hand was being grabbed by the kid and was then bombarded with excited speech. "Hi!!! You are that kid I battled on the hill yesterday! Wow what are the odds of meeting you here again! I didn't get to introduce myself yesterday, my name is Zack, what is yours?"

Taken by surprise, Zane took a few seconds to process what Zack had said. "Oh… yes I remember you now… my name is Zane. Nice to meet you." Zane was a real novice when it came to socialising.

"Hi Zane. Are you taking the battling strategy class as well?" asked Zack quite excitedly.

"Uh… yeah. I am pretty bad at battling so I reckon I need it." He really didn't want to be talking to Zack at that stage, having vivid memories of his Snover being pummelled by this kid.

"Hey it looks like the class is about to start!"

It was true. A door had opened and a tall man in a faded brown suit emerged. "Battle strategy students follow me please." All the trainers sitting in the seating area stood and followed the teacher into the teaching theatre. Zack was the first in line, with Zane trying to avoid contact with him at the back of the line.

The teaching theatre was rather large, about the size of the average university theatre, but much less populated. Zane took a seat right near the front. The teacher came in behind the nice wooden desk at the front of the seats and began to speak.

"Good morning students. For those who haven't before taken a class with me, my name is Professor Stan. In the next hour I will teach you how to become a more efficient battler by utilising your Pokémon's abilities and strengths to your advantage. At any time feel free to raise your hand and ask questions."

There was a little murmuring from some students, but it stopped when Professor Stan began to speak again.

"Now, I have worked with Pokémon for a large portion of my life. I have battled all the gyms from Sinnoh, and even some from other areas. When I was only seventeen I defeated the Elite Four and officially took the title of 'Pokémon Master'. I too started out as you all did, getting your first Pokémon from the local professor, and I had a goal… That goal was to be the best trainer I could be. Look where a simple goal has got me".

Professor Stan pulled a Poké Ball from his belt and pressed the small button. Out of the ball came the weirdest Pokémon Zane had ever seen. It was green and looked like it was made of vines.

"This, students, is my beloved Tangrowth. I caught him as a Tangela a long time ago. Now, you may not believe it but every single Pokémon has strengths and abilities that can be utilised in battle." The Professor pointed at a student who had quickly raised his hand. "Yes, even Magikarp has its strengths, although there are very few".

The atmosphere in the theatre was powerful. All eyes were on the Tangrowth, and all ears were directed at the Professor.

"I will now demonstrate some of Tangrowth's abilities and show you how you could use them to give yourself a better chance in a match." The Professor turned to the Pokémon. "Tangrowth, use Sunny Day!"

The reaction speed was impeccable. Within three seconds, the temperature in the room rose by a few degrees.

"OK, here is how this can be an advantage. Sunny Day creates heat and brightness in battle. Tangrowth can have one of two abilities. Both abilities are activated only in strong sunlight, so on the first move it is ideal that Sunny Day is used. Your Tangrowth will either heal itself of all status problems, for example freezing or paralysis, or it will become a lot speedier in the sunlight. Both of these abilities can be key to gaining the upper hand in battle."

There were many 'Oohs' and 'Aahs' from the students as the Professor explained the advantages to Tangrowth's abilities. The Professor continued.

"Now, abilities are vital to all Pokémon, but there is another factor that you can use to aid you in a match. For example, Tangrowth's weight stands at roughly two hundred and eighty pounds. That weight can be turned into pure power when physical attacks come into play. Imagine something weighing only ten pounds trying to tackle powerfully. It can happen, but a Pokémon with a larger weight will always be more effective."

After that, the class got very technical, mainly talking about the power of certain moves and how they can be used to swing the direction of a battle. The class was nearing the end when the Professor made a final statement.

"Ah, look at the time, only five minutes to go. Remember this everyone. Abilities and physical measurements can be very handy. Strength can be a large factor, so make sure you train your Pokémon on inanimate targets from time to time. Last but not least, confidence. Be confident in your battles and try not to panic, it will only make things worse."

The mesmerized audience began to applaud the Professor on the hour lesson he had given them.

"OK OK, that's enough" the Professor smiled. "On your way out you will see a box with handbooks inside, make sure you grab one on the way out as it lists almost every Pokémon ability known. It also lists the average weight and height of most. Thankyou for listening, hopefully I will see you again in the field."

The students all took their handbook and began flipping through the pages to find details on their Pokémon. Zane didn't have time to search, as he wanted to make sure he got away from Zack before he got dragged into a tedious conversation.

At any rate, Zane left the lesson with a different mindset and newly gained battling knowledge that he hoped would help him out.

As he walked down the road towards the outskirts of Jubilife City, he thought to himself, _'Here I come Oreburgh.'_


	6. A Hailstorm

**Chapter 6 – A Hailstorm**

He held up his new mechanical hand, opening and closing the spider-like fingers that had a smooth shine to them. He looked at it, knowing that the situation was very bittersweet. He had a new, highly powerful and mechanical hand, but he now lacked the feeling of being whole. It made him feel as though a part of himself was missing.

"Sir, it appears that the installation of your bio-mechanical hand went right as planned. There doesn't seem to be a problem with the functioning." One of Richard's many scientists was examining the hand carefully, scribbling notes on a clipboard.

Richard sat silently, still turning the mechanical hand around. He was leaning on a bright white desk, and after some more turning, he used his real hand to cover his face. The scientist stood still when this happened, a curious expression on his face. Then, without warning, Richard roared and smashed the mechanical hand into the desk, which went straight through.

Richard's anger was extinguished, and a mixture of excitement and shock took its place. An evil smile began to form on his face, before began to speak. "This could be helpful in the future." This brief moment of excitement was quickly smothered when Richard remembered the incident which caused this. He needed to think, so he ordered the scientist out of the room.

As the scientist gathered his paper and quickly shuffled towards the door, Richard stood up and began to pace the room, deep in thought.

'_These Pokémon have incredible power… But I cannot utilise it without the others. Recovering the first one was hard enough… We lost so many men on the expedition. Then there was the desert situation… They should've been more careful. I told them the ruins would be dangerous.'_

Richard stopped his pacing and seemed to stare in thought at something that wasn't actually there.

'_We still need to attempt Mt. Coronet… But it would take days to reach those hidden ruins. Helicopters can't reach it, so the expedition must be made on foot… But what if those men are killed also? All those precious days… Wasted… But it needs to be done. Time to send a team out to Mt. Coronet… I hope they don't fail, for everyone's sake…'_

Richard extracted a fancy mobile phone from his pocket, and then began to type a bunch of numbers into it. He put the phone up to his ear and waited for someone on the other end to pick it up.

-- -- -- --

It was still before noon when Zane passed city boundaries on the eastern side of Jubilife City, his new found battling knowledge locked safely away inside his head. As he made his way past the large billboard saying, "Welcome to Jubilife" he turned to get one last look at the city. He knew he didn't spend much time there, but he was a new trainer. He could return later.

Spinning back around to face the long dirt road that led off along Route 203, he set off at a steady pace, reflecting on his battling lesson. He hoped this fresh knowledge would assist him in future battles. As he thought, he remembered the Pokémon handbook he'd received at the end of the class. Not stopping, he pulled his backpack off and rummaged through it, careful not to trip on anything on the pathway. Before long he managed to remove the new-smelling booklet.

After hoisting his backpack back onto his back, he started to flip through the pages in search of a page on Snover. Before long, he found the page he was after and began to read through the information, still walking.

'_Snover is a unique Pokémon in that it is both Ice and Grass type. Although short in stature, it is still rather heavy, with an average weight of one hundred and eleven point three pounds.'_

He already knew this information, having owned Snover for quite some time. He then spotted a little section devoted to the Pokémon's hidden ability.

'_Snow Warning: When in battle, Snover can whip up a small hailstorm around the battling area that will only damage the opponent Pokémon. With refinement of this technique, Snover can control the size and strength of these hailstorms.'_

Zane was pleasantly surprised at this. He never knew that his Snover had the power to generate a hailstorm over a battle, and knew that this uncovered information could prove to be vital in a battle sometime. Zane thought this was too good to be true, so he stopped walking and let out his Snover.

Snover appeared out of its Pokeball, stretching and grunting tiredly. After it found it's feet and finished waking up, it looked around to see where it was. Both Snover and Zane were now a fair distance from Jubilife City, which could be seen in the distance. The road ahead only led around a corner and out of sight. Snover figured there was a reason for being called out of the Pokeball, so it turned and faced Zane.

"Hey Snover, it says here in this booklet that you can create small hailstorms. Can you really?"

Snover looked at Zane, slightly puzzled. "C'mon Snover, are you sure you can't? It could be a real advantage in battle." Snover seemed to understand what Zane was on about and turned around to face the lush, grassy field beside the road.

"Snooooooooo!!!" Almost instantly, a small cloud appeared up above Snover. It was dark grey, but with a hint of green mixed inside it. The cloud started dropping small pieces of hail onto Snover, who didn't object. But only after about twenty seconds or so, the cloud fizzled out and vanished entirely, much to the disgust of Snover.

"Hmm… well it says that it can be improved with practice. Don't worry Sno! We will get it!"

Snover seemed content with this statement and nodded happily. Zane recalled Snover and continued along the dirt road. It was a good two hours before anything happened. Zane found himself outside a large cave entrance with a sign stuck into the ground next to it reading, "Oreburgh City cave connection."

Wary of entering, Zane peeked his head inside the entrance and his fear was washed away when he noticed that the ceiling had been lit with a long string of light bulbs. He was more relaxed, so he entered the cave and began to follow the lonely cave. He made his way around a corner, and then realised that the tunnel opened up into a much larger area. He just continued to follow the string of lights, which had now become three strings. The ceiling of the cave was incredibly high up, and he noticed that there was a massive crowd of sleeping Zubat hanging upside down. All around the massive opening were illustrious rock formations and markings engraved into the walls.

Lost in marvel at the brilliant sight, Zane suddenly tripped over a relatively large rock that seemed to be stuck in the ground. He rolled onto his back and sat up to look at the offender, and noticed a pair of white eyes staring up at him. Suddenly, the eyes started rising out of the ground, and Zane noticed that they were attached to the very rock that he had tripped over.

"GEOOOODUUUUUDE!!!" the Pokémon roared at him. Zane suddenly became terrified and fumbled stupidly at his belt for Snover's Pokeball. The Pokémon roared again and Zane finally laid hands on the ball. With a quick click of a button, Snover was out in front of him, facing Geodude.

He started to calm down, realising that it was only a measly Geodude. He had beaten plenty of young Geodude when battling against those amateur trainers back home. He looked at the Pokemon carefully, taking it all in. It was as normal as any other Geodude. Round and rocky with two strong arms on either side.

As Zane was taking in his opponent, the Geodude made a sudden move and was charging at Snover.

Thinking quick, Zane ordered Snover, "Quick, duck down beneath Geodude and fire a Powder Snow attack up at it." Snover did as it was told, and as the levitating Geodude reached Snover, it was suddenly being blasted upwards by a small column of snow.

This didn't seem to faze Geodude much, who stayed up high and curled itself into a ball. "It's using Defense Curl. See if you can knock it down with some Razor Leaves."

Snover sent some razor-sharp leaves curling up towards the Geodude, but they couldn't quite reach. Stomping on the ground, Zane swore under his breath. What could he do now? The Geodude was up too high to reach, and he didn't want to lose a second battle, especially not to a wild Geodude.

Then it hit him. He snapped his fingers as the idea came into his head. "Snover, I want you to concentrate as hard as you can to create a hailstorm right above Geodude."

Snover understood, then with all the power it could muster, it cried out, "SNOOOOO!" and a large cloud appeared above the Geodude, blocking out the dim light of the light bulbs, and creating total darkness. Zane did not expect this, and was shocked.

There was a sudden rumble of what sounded like thunder. It seemed to echo throughout the entire cave, rattling the walls and the ground. Then without warning, a strong buffet of hail stones could be heard falling and hitting the stone surface of the cave floor. Zane dived onto the ground, half-scared, half-knowing he wouldn't be harmed by the hail.

The hailstorm was extremely powerful, and it seemed to make the cave colder and colder with every passing minute. Soon enough, it was almost like a refrigerator. Zane couldn't take the cold anymore. He yelled above the sound of hail, which was almost like a band of snare drummers. "SNOVER! STOP! STOP THE HAILSTORM!"

The hailstorm vanished as quickly as it had formed. When the dark cloud had vanished and light was returned to the cave, Zane stood up to inspect the damage. Mysteriously enough, there wasn't a single piece of hail on the ground, and it seemed that the cold had completely disappeared. Snover was standing in the same place, panting heavily. In front of Snover lied the Geodude, unconscious and seriously hurt.

Zane rushed over to the suffering Geodude and could notice instantly the damage done by the hail. There were many indents and bruises over the rocky surface of the suffering Pokemon. He couldn't just leave it here to suffer and possibly die. He needed to bring it to a Pokemon centre. He weighed up his options. He could either turn back to Jubilife City, or he could continue on to Oreburgh, not knowing how far away it was.

"I know Snover, I will have to catch it with –" Zane broke off. "Oh you have got to be kidding me." He suddenly realised he had forgotten to purchase Pokeballs whilst in Jubilife. "Urgh… looks like we will have to carry him…"

Zane heaved his pack over his shoulders, then bent to pick up the slowly breathing Geodude. "We need to hurry Sno."

Zane recalled Snover and set out at a fast jog. He could feel the weight of the Geodude slowing him down, but he pushed on. This was life or death for Geodude. The cave weaved around bends and occasionally went in a straight tunnel. He ran for only about half an hour, but it felt like days, especially with the heavy Geodude weighing him down.

Hardly paying attention to his surroundings, he was astonished to realise that he was already about forty feet out of the cave. Slowing down for a second to take in his whereabouts and find his bearings, he noticed he had already passed a couple small houses. The area directly ahead of him was all city life.

The ground on which the city was built was the same as the cave: a rocky-brown surface. All around the area where he stood were heavy machinery vehicles sitting there unused. He proceeded to continue his running. It wasn't hard to find the Pokemon Centre, as it stood out in this industrial-style city like a colour image in a black and white newspaper.

Once inside, he rushed to the front desk where he found a surprised Nurse Joy. "Oh my! What happened to Geodude?"

"It got badly hurt in a battle. Snover created a hailstorm and it was more powerful than I'd expected."

"Oh! So this is a wild Geodude?" Nurse Joy asked curiously.

"Yeah, I couldn't put it in a Pokeball because… well… I didn't have any on me. Can you save it?" Zane was quite worried.

"We should be able to help, but we need to be quick. Chansey, take Geodude." A Chansey that Zane had not previously noticed came around the desk and took the nearly dead Geodude from his arms. Zane didn't take his eyes of the Chansey until it was through a pair of swinging doors.

"Can you give it a Pokeball? I want to look after it." Zane asked quietly, still looking at the doors that Chansey passed through.

"Yes, we can do that. Geodude's healing might take a few hours, so you can sit here and wait if you'd like."

"Oh… thankyou, but I need to stock up on some items. I will be back soon." Zane answered calmly.

"OK then, I shall see you soon."

Zane exited out the large automatic doors of the Pokemon Centre, and finally began to take in his surroundings properly. He had to find a shopping centre. Zane set off down the brown road and into the city, wondering how on Earth his Pokemon journey could get much more disastrous. It was only his second day still, but it felt like his tenth.


	7. Frozen

**Chapter 7 – Frozen**

"Hurry! We need to get to it before it wakes." Deep inside the caves of Mt. Coronet, the exploration team were nearing their destination. The expedition leader was at the front, calling commands back down the line. He was being careful not to be too loud, but loud enough for the rest of the team to hear him.

"According to the map the boss gave us, the entrance should be somewhere around here." The team's navigator was observing the map under the dim light of a fading flashlight. "We should go around this next bend off to the left, and we should end up in a small area outside the cave."

There were some tired grunts of agreement from the team leader as he continued to tread warily along the stone cave floor. Each team member was armed with a state-of-the-art flashlight, and they were guiding their feet using the light given out by it.

After making their way around an oncoming bend in the tunnel, they did not need to use their lights anymore. "Right there!" shouted the team leader back towards the rest of the party, forgetting about using a careful volume for his voice. "That must be the opening." He was pointing at a strong light at the end of the straight stretch.

The team sped up, no longer being hindered by the darkness of Mt. Coronet. It only took them about a minute to reach the light, after which they found themselves outside the cave and standing in a small snowy courtyard with another little cave across the other side.

"That's where it is!" the team leader continued on noisily. The rest of the team were far too tired and excited to try to shut their leader up. "Now, lets go in and capture it."

After some groans for not getting a rest, the party of five lined up and entered the small cave in single file. The cave entrance was like nothing any of them had ever seen. The outer edges were coated with a thick layer of ice, but unlike normal ice, it wasn't cold. It was different.

They all walked along, but they didn't need to go very far, as the cave was just a single room. Although the light outside was bright, it didn't light up the area like it should've, so everyone resorted to using their flashlights again. Four of the team stood close by the entrance to the cave, watching without blinking, but the team leader advanced forwards, shining his flashlight around in the hopes of seeing what he was after.

Finally, the light found itself being shone on a large icy-blue figure that was sitting on the ground at the end of the small room. It was perfectly still, not breathing, not doing anything. The leader was incredibly cautious now as he slowly approached, but still nothing happened. He got right up close to it, almost touching it. But still, nothing happened. He turned around to face his team on the opposite side of the mysterious room.

"It's safe, you can come over," he shouted back to the team. But as he did so, he heard a massive roar behind him, and before he could even turn to face what was happening, he was frozen solid in an enormous block of ice. At that moment, every single person on the team stood staring at his or her leader, not breathing. The massive block of ice slowly rose into the air, and was suddenly shot sideways into the darkness. All the team heard was the crashing sound of the ice on the cave wall.

The Pokemon that had caused this was now starting to roar again. The noise grew from a soft growl into a huge painful roar. As the team blocked their ears to stop their eardrums from impacting, the Pokemon began to glow bright blue. Fear struck the face of the navigator, and thinking quick, he extracted an odd-looking gun from his backpack. The ever-growing noise threatened to kill him, but he managed to aim the gun at the Pokemon and pulled the trigger.

What exited the gun was not a bullet, but a small electronic device. The shot was perfect, hitting the Pokemon square in the chest. Immediately, the glow vanished and the roar stopped. The small electrical device then started to injure the Pokemon with huge electrical currents. Despite the severe pain, the Pokemon did not scream, it just went still and fell back onto the ground in its previous position.

The team members slowly removed their hands from their ears, careful that the sound might return to torture them. The navigator took the role of leader and faced the team. "It is stunned, we should have enough time to incapacitate it and capture it. Act fast, we are already breaking schedule."

Wearily following the orders of their new leader, the team stood and slowly headed for the Pokemon on the other side of the cave.

"I'm going to go check on Paul and see if he's alive," the navigator stated. He broke apart from the group and headed over to where he saw the ice boulder fly into the darkness. Needing light, he found his flashlight and started pointing it into the darkness. It wasn't hard to find the wreckage of the ice, but strangely enough, his leader was nowhere to be seen. He continued to search, wondering if he would find him.

As he was about to give up his search, he tripped over a chunk of ice and went face-first into the cold rock surface of the cave. He could instantly feel his nose was broken, as blood was pouring out his nostrils and over his face. He put he hand up to cover his nose, and turned to look at the thing he had tripped over.

He saw it was a block of ice, but he suddenly became shocked when he realised what it looked like. It was shaped exactly like the head of Paul. It sported a terrified face and unblinking eyes. There was Paul's head, turned to ice. The navigator could only assume that the rest of the body had shattered when it made contact with the cave wall.

He slowly walked back towards the team, which had now successfully wrapped wires around the Pokemon and laid it on a portable rolling tray. "Did you find Paul? What happened to him?" one of the workers asked desperately.

The navigator ignored him and just stared at the Pokemon. He thought to himself, _'What the hell is this thing?'_

-- -- --

Oreburgh city was quite unique in that it was built upon a dirt plane. It had a very old-age feel about it, which Zane took no time to recognise. Although a city, it wasn't full of bright lights and massive shopping centres, instead, it was just like an old mining town, only much bigger. All the buildings looked old and worn (all except for the Pokemon Centre), and the majority looked very dull, yet they seemed to entrance Zane somehow. He loved the look of them, but at the same time wished that he could stay right away from them.

Another massive difference that Zane noticed almost immediately was that there weren't many people wandering the streets. There was no constant chatter of a massive crowd like in most cities, instead just the occasional group of three or some hurried businessman. The one thing that there was a lot of though, were industrial workers.

Zane noticed as he slowly wandered down a sidewalk that nine out of ten people he spotted in the eerie city were big, burly men that were covered in dirt and wore yellow hardhats. Most of them flat out ignored Zane's existence in the city, but the odd one or two would take a quick glance at the odd one out. It seemed quite odd to Zane.

His amazement of the oddly desolate and quiet city was extinguished by the returning thought of the Geodude he had just handed over to Nurse Joy, and had decided to care for. A quick recollection of the day's events reminded Zane that he needed to stock up on every day trainer items. With a fresh objective firm in his mind, he set out to find a shopping centre.

Zane wandered along dusty street by dusty street, carefully looking at every person he saw, and watching the very few industrial machinery vehicles that powered past on the dirt roads.

Noting a large sign that showed an arrow, and the text, _'Oreburgh City Mall'_, he found his direction and headed towards the shopping centre that the sign indicated. It took roughly twenty minutes for Zane to arrive at the large automatic doors of the old-looking building.

Although the outside looked old and dirty and quiet, the inside was exactly the opposite. The view from just inside the entrance showed that the ground floor was the middle floor in a massive, and highly decorated shopping centre. Directly across from the automatic doors, there was a large open area with railings around the edge. Zane approached it and noticed he was looking down at the bottom floor of the massive mall. There were people everywhere. Zane could hardly believe that this place was situated in the same city he had recently arrived.

He was completely awestruck as he gazed around at the numerous shops peppered throughout the complex. He looked up and saw that the top floor was built similar to the middle floor: with a massive viewing area in the centre of the floor. He was almost entirely happy again, until he heard a familiar voice shouting.

"Zane? ZANE?!? Is that you ZANE???" Zane looked around for the source of the voice, and quickly found it. Zack was shouting down at him from the railings on the top floor. The voice was like cockroaches crawling over his skin. He waved weakly back at Zack before he continued. "ZANE! Stay there!! I am coming down!"

He decided to do the exact opposite. As soon as Zack's head vanished back over the railings, Zane bolted for the nearest shop he could find. Desperately trying to avoid a painful encounter with the most annoying person on the planet, he found himself inside a women's clothing store, surrounded by bikinis with pictures of Butterfree and Bellossom all over them.

The smirks of the shop staff didn't stop Zane from crouching down low behind a spinning rack of underwear and peeking through the gap into the walkways of the shopping centre. He waited there until he saw Zack arrive at the spot he was previously standing. Zack looked slightly confused as he looked around for his apparent best friend, and hung his head when he failed to see him anywhere.

Zane felt a large wave of guilt gush through him as he watched Zack slowly walk out of view. Though the guilt was agony for him, he decided to wait a little longer, as he really didn't need any distractions.

He would've waited longer crouched behind the underwear rack if one of the shop staff didn't waltz up to him and say loud enough for everyone to just hear, "Please, either buy something or stop burying your face in the underwear." Needless to say, Zane was very red-faced as he slumped out of the shop and down along a row of others.

As he walked along, he gazed up at the ceiling through the hole in the top floor. The ceiling was a beautifully patterned glass dome. He was stuck in amazement at the wonderful sight, until he suddenly realised that the sky behind it was getting darker. It was already early dusk.

Deciding he needed to get a hurry on, he started to power walk past the colourful shop fronts, quickly peering inside to see if it housed the supplies he needed. There was so many different shops that he was almost lost in search of the correct one. Then without really noticing, he accidentally walked right into a shop at the end of the walkway.

When he realised that he was no longer in a wide-open space, he noticed that there were massive open boxes of red and white Poke balls, walls of various sprays and bottles. He knew that this was where he needed to be to buy some supplies.

He rounded the different areas of the shop, grabbing supplies that he thought he would need as a trainer. He didn't pay much attention to the price tags, as it was all pretty low-cost.

Placing a bunch of Poke balls and Pokemon health sprays into a basket, he approached the counter to pay. The woman at the counter looked into the basket and began to go through it, stating each object out loud in a droning monotone voice. "Five Poke balls… Three super potions… Five full heal sprays… One sleeping bag…" She entered all the information into the cash register and with the regular 'ting' sound, it slid open and she continued, "That'll be fifty-eight pokedollars please."

Zane suddenly realised he had grabbed more than he realised. He pulled out the leftover change from his dinner the previous night, and counted out the fifty-eight pokedollars. When he finished counting, he realised that he faced a problem. _"Oh no… Only two pokedollars left."_ he thought to himself.

He reluctantly handed over the money and then packed his new items into his backpack. It took him a few minutes to fit it all in there, but making use of side-pockets, he managed to squeeze everything in.

As he walked out of the shop, he noticed the sky through the ceiling was now quite dark. He hurried on at a fast walk, and as he made it out the automatic doors at the other end of the complex, he broke into a run. It wasn't hard for him to find his way back to the Pokemon Centre, as the dim streetlights were lit and he had a fairly accurate memory of where he'd come from. The one thing he noticed on his way back was that Oreburgh City no longer seemed abandoned. The streets were still pretty bare compared to what a city should be, but there were now people in sight everywhere. They were all dirty industrial workers.

As he entered the front doors of the Pokemon Centre, he was puffing and heaving heavier than he had when he had brought a dying Geodude in for care. Nurse Joy was sitting at the front counter, head down and working hard.

Zane walked directly to the counter and started talking. "Excuse me Nurse Joy, but I was in here earlier with a Geodude. How is it?"

"Oh, yes how could I forget? Geodude will survive, but it is best that I keep it for the night to heal. You will be able to take it tomorrow."

Zane had half-forgotten that he now owned the Geodude, and seemed puzzled for a second as he took in Nurse Joy's answer. "Oh… Oh yes. Thankyou very much. Also, I was just wondering if you had any free space to stay the night?"

He realised he looked stupid by asking if there was free space, as the entire building seemed as ghostly as the city looked a few hours before.

Nurse Joy giggled, "Yes, yes of course we do. I will show you to the rest area." She emerged from behind the counter and Zane followed her along. They went through some double swinging doors near a seating area and entered into a large room with many rows of hospital beds.

Zane thanked Nurse Joy and chose a bed close to the window on the right-hand side of the room. He slumped down onto the bed and lay down, sighing the largest sigh he had ever done. He rolled over onto his side facing all the beds down his row, and noticed at once that he was not alone.

He hadn't noticed when he first came in that there was an occupied bed with a sleeping person in it. The person was facing away from him, so he could only see the back of his or her head. He recognised the hair style after a few seconds.

A massive wave of guilt gushed back into Zane as he looked at the back of Zack's head on the hospital bed. He questioned how he could abandon the only other person in the world that considered him a friend and leave him standing in the middle of a large shopping centre. He could see, even though Zack was sleeping, that he had an air of sadness around him. The look of him slumped sideways in bed just looked sad, and Zane rolled over to his other side, not even baring to look.

He lay in silence thinking. His second day of being a trainer wasn't as disastrous as his first, but it still was no picnic. He had already gone through so much. He couldn't bottle up his emotions anymore, so he pulled the blanket up over his eyes and started sobbing quietly.


	8. The Trainer and her Ponyta

**Day 3**

**Chapter 8 – The Trainer and her Ponyta**

"There it is, sir! Over there! By the mountain. Do you see it?"

Richard turned on the spot to face the mountain that one of his scientists indicated. He was standing in the centre of a massive helicopter-landing pad. The surrounding area was isolated entirely. The building on which he stood was built on the edge of a mountain face. An enormous lake lapped the edges of the surrounding mountain area and the large columns that supported the building.

He looked into the bright blue sky above the lush, green mountains, scanning it for any signs of a black helicopter in the distance. "Ah! There it is. Yes, I can see it now." He continued to gaze into the sky, knowing himself that he still couldn't see it. To try and disguise his guilty face, he wiped the sweat off of his brow using his sleeve, and got a quick shock when the cold metal from his bionic hand brushed him.

"Sir, I am not sure that this is the best way to address the issue. I am sure there must be –"

"Silence!" Richard spoke to the scientist, not shouting, but sounding threatening nonetheless. "This is what must be done. It is the only way that will work without a margin of failure."

The scientist, clearly shocked and slightly scared, continued, "Yes, that is all well and true, but I think it would be better to take a more realistic approach. Your way might seem best, but if we just –"

Richard cut him off again, "I told you to stop!" He raised his voice a little this time, getting more aggravated. "If there was another way, I would take it. I don't like how this will work, but it is the only way."

"But –"

"ENOUGH!" Richard yelled at the scientist, charging forward and picking up by the collar using his bionic hand. "Not another word," he whispered to the scientist, nose to nose. He dropped him down and started pacing back and forth on the helipad.

He stopped and looked into the sky above the mountains. He could now see the black helicopter quite clearly. It was getting pretty close. He noticed the large shining Pokemon hanging from a pair of steel chains beneath the chopper. It wasn't moving.

He looked away in pity of the poor creature, feeling sorry for what it was about to go through. He knew deep down that nothing, whether Pokemon or human, should go through something like what it was about to go through.

Some more pacing and the helicopter was hovering above the helipad, slowly lowering the Pokemon down. It was magnificent in the sunlight: light reflecting off every part of it, causing a spectrum of colours to hit every available surface.

Some patient crew members untied the Pokemon and the chopper rose back into the air and flew off again. Richard crouched down beside the massive Pokemon, and with his organic hand, slowly pressed his hand onto it. Again, he got a shock as he realised that it was freezing cold, even in the hot temperature.

Standing, he approached the scientist that he had yelled at, "It is time. Please give me the ball."

Reluctantly, but fearful of being punished for disobeying orders, the scientist produced a very unique Poke ball from his pocket and handed it to Richard. It wasn't like a normal Poke ball: it was a pure black ball with many creepy purple and red streaks on the surface. They were almost like veins.

Turning the ball in his hands, Richard frowned and looked at the scientist, "Please know that I don't want to do this. I am only doing what needs to be done." With that, he threw the ball at the immobile Pokemon on the ground. As soon as it made contact, the ball rose up into the air and opened. Unlike the normal red light that absorbs Pokemon, a dark purple light surrounded the Pokemon.

The beam of purple light grew into a thick column of light, with dark red, pulsing lights flying around it. As the column grew thicker and thicker, it completely surrounded the Pokemon. After forming a large dome around it, the red veins of light grew into a second dome.

The dome made a bright flash and then suddenly, it was gone. Lying on the ground was the Poke ball, the red veins pulsing rapidly. Richard approached cautiously, slowly bending down the pick up the ball. After determining that it was safe, he signalled the scientist to come over.

"Sir, it appeared to have worked as planned," the scientist said as he jogged over.

"Yes… It seems to have worked…" He was looking at the ball blankly. He thought to himself, _'I am sorry for this, but it is necessary.'_

-- -- --

Zane awoke with a sudden start to the sound of a playful chewing and growling. He sat up so fast that lights appeared in front of his eyes, obscuring his vision. For a moment, he didn't know what was happening, and he had no recollection of the previous day. As the lights in his eyes faded, he began to remember the previous days events. He went through it in his mind.

'_Yesterday… Yesterday… Oh yeah. That battling class was awesome…'_ He stretched and yawned tiredly. _'Oh… Geodude! I wonder if it is alright…'_ He laid his head back down on his pillow, desperately trying to get a few more precious moments of rest. _'Then the mall… wait… the mall? Zack!'_ He sat upright too fast again, lights popping up in his vision once more. He rubbed his eyes and looked across the row of beds to see if Zack was there.

He wasn't there, and Zane felt some more guilt as he lay back down onto his pillow. _'Poor Zack… I really shouldn't have run off on him… I will have to make it up to him if I see him again.'_ He then remembered the reason he had woken up. _'Wait, what was that sound before?'_

Zane sat up again, being careful this time not to move to quickly, and listened hard for the source of the sound that had woken him. He could hear it, and realised he could hear it while he was reminiscing. He put it down to the early morning symptoms, and continued to listen.

He wasn't quite sure what was making the noise, but sat in silence, trying not to move in case he scared off whatever it was. He was one hundred percent sure that Snover wasn't doing this, as the sound was completely different.

'_What the heck?'_ he thought to himself. He peeped over the side of the bed to see that his extremely bulbous backpack had fallen aside, and was shaking slightly. He couldn't see much past the bag, as the bulge obscured the view. He did notice, however, that his brand-new sleeping bag was spread out on the tiled floor.

As he raised his head to attempt to get a better view, he quickly lowered it when he heard another playful growl. Zane was extremely confused and again raised his head. This time for a split second, he saw the tip of a short, light-brown tail. As his confusion skyrocketed, he spotted a dark grey curve vanish from the top area of the bag.

Deciding it would be best to get up and face whatever it was that was terrorising his belongings, he slowly moved his legs off the bed and placed his feet quietly onto the cool tiles. When he eventually put his weight onto his feet in a low crouch, he edged towards the bag, looking carefully for the offender.

Taking a chance, Zane lunged at the bag and pulled it up as fast as he could. Unfortunately, he picked it up upside down and all the items inside it fell out. The Pokemon that was digging through his bag froze and stood staring at Zane, and he stared back, still holding the bag above his head.

The Pokemon was small and a light brown colour. It also had a dark-grey plate covering its face, with a pair of eyes peering through little holes in it. There was also a thin, light grey strip on the plate, right above the eyes.

The little Pokemon didn't make a move – instead just continued to stare in shock. Zane however, lowered the bag and started to repack his belongings into it. He didn't break eye contact with the Pokemon until his hand touched on something that felt slightly slimy. Shocked, he looked down and noticed a small, triangular piece of something on the floor. Further inspection revealed more little shards, all different shapes and sizes.

A sudden realisation swept over Zane as he stared at the little shards. He looked at the Pokemon that was still staring at him. "You were in the egg?" The Pokemon still did not move. "You? But… How? What? What Pokemon are you?" He didn't really expect it to answer, but he needed to find some way of stopping himself from collapsing.

After a few minutes, he decided to finish packing everything back in his bag. The Pokemon didn't make a move for the whole time. Zane was getting a little creeped out by it as he scraped sticky egg shards out of his backpack and onto the floor. Finally (after re-packing his bag), he looked at the unmoving Pokemon and gently said, "It's OK. You can move. I'm not going to hurt you."

Apparently understanding him, the Pokemon relaxed a little, but continued to stand in the one spot. Thinking it best to consult Nurse Joy, Zane let out his Snover to stand guard. Snover materialised in a beam of red light, and was already stretching after a good night sleep. Snover didn't notice the presence of a new Pokemon immediately, and got startled when he turned to the side in a stretch.

"Snover, meet the newest Pokemon in our family." Snover peered down at the small Pokemon curiously. "I don't know what it is yet, but I was hoping to ask Nurse Joy. Do you think you could stay here and keep an eye on it until I get back?"

Snover nodded and continued to look at the little Pokemon, which looked straight back. Zane wandered over to the door and left into the lobby area, peering back over his shoulder to make sure everything was still all right.

He approached the front counter where Nurse Joy was sitting. She saw him coming and smiled at him as he approached. "Good morning, Zane. I hope you are well rested. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Zane made it to the counter and leaned across it to whisper to Nurse Joy. "I am good, thanks. Nurse, I have something to –"

"Why are we whispering?" Nurse Joy asked, cutting across Zane's speech in a whisper.

Zane looked around and noticed that the lobby would be completely empty if not for their presence. "Sorry… Anyway," he continued in a normal volume, "When I came in here last night, I had an egg in my backpack. And, well… Umm… It isn't an egg anymore." Zane watched as Nurse Joy took everything in. "Can you please take a look at it and tell me what Pokemon it is?"

Something clicked inside Nurse Joy's head, and suddenly she was all bubbly and happy. "Oh, of course I can have a look, Zane." She was almost giggling in excitement.

Zane was more confused than he had been earlier. He swore something was wrong in her head. He just put it down to her having an all-nighter caring for Pokemon. "Uhh, this way, Nurse."

He led her into the sleeping area and showed her the Pokemon (which was still staring eye-to-eye with Snover). She bent over in front of the little Pokemon and its attention suddenly shifted.

"Well, aren't you a cute little fella? Oh, yes you are." She was talking to it like a person would talk to a baby. The Pokemon looked quite confused and just stared at her continuously.

Zane cleared his throat, "Umm, excuse me, Nurse Joy, but can you tell me what Pokemon it is? I really don't fancy sifting through my five-hundred page handbook."

Nurse Joy stood back up and faced Zane, now talking in a normal voice and manner again, "Oh, of course. Sorry about that." She blushed. "What you have here is a healthy little male Shieldon."

"Wait, how can you tell it is a male?" Zane asked curiously.

Nurse Joy smiled a little, "Well, Zane, apart from the obvious, female Shieldon have a less curved plate over their head. Because Shieldon only hatched this morning, it is probably best if I just quickly do an examination of him. You know, just to make sure everything is fine."

"Oh, of course," Zane answered happily. He was getting pretty excited over the new arrival of a Shieldon on his team. "How long is a 'quick' examination?"

"It will probably take just over an hour or so. You are welcome to leave and come back later if you want."

"Thanks, Nurse. I have to head into the city to find some food, so I will see you soon."

With that, Nurse Joy bent down and attempted to pick up the Shieldon. She let out a small grunt as she attempted to heave the Shieldon into her arms. "Phew… He is a heavy little guy. I think I will just have to lure him out, but judging by the way he has been staring at me without moving for the past couple minutes, I think it may take a while."

Zane just smiled.

*

Zane was exiting through the automatic Pokemon Centre doors, heading into the city. He had forgotten why, still thinking heavily of Nurse Joy's feeble attempt at luring Shieldon with a piece of food. The whole morning was already weighing on his mind as he set off down the street at a steady march.

It was only the smell of a nearby restaurant that reminded him of how hungry he was. Having not eaten the night before, he was desperate fill the deep void that hung in his stomach. As he approached the door of the restaurant, he felt a sinking feeling so powerful that he thought he might melt into the Earth.

'_I am all out of money! Oh, crap!'_

He was fuming. He felt like punching a hole into the wall, knowing he would just break his weak hand in the process. He was thinking of a way to get money, as overnight, he had doubled in mouths to feed. _'I think I can remember reading that trainers typically battle for money… Maybe I can do that.'_

It wasn't much for him to go by, but he needed to try. The only thing that concerned him was that he had no money to bet with. Nevertheless, he set off in search of a trainer to battle, in the hopes that he could win himself breakfast.

As he reached the outskirts of the main city area, he spotted a trainer that looked like a rookie, so he bolted up to her, shouting out, "Hey! You! Can we battle?"

Clearly startled and partially annoyed, the girl replied, "Well, if you insist then I suppose I have no choice." She sighed as Zane punched his fist into the air, clearly imagining success.

"But hey, can we bet money on it? I hear that is how trainers make a living." Zane was jogging on the spot for some reason.

The girl sighed again, "Fine, but make this quick, I have better things to do than battle some idiot rookie that thinks he is a master. You look desperate, so I will torment you with a fifty Pokedollar bet."

Zane could hardly believe it, but he lied as he said, "Yeah, well I know I can beat you, so I up my bet to one hundred." He knew this could be his only chance to get some money, as the city was deserted, and if he lost, he would be found out for trying to scam an innocent trainer.

The female trainer raised her eyebrows, "Fine. I will match it, but only because I know I won't lose."

Zane punched the air again and said, "One thing, my other two Pokemon are at the Pokemon Centre, and so I only have one. Can we just do a one on one?"

The girl was clearly irritated at Zane and nodded her head quickly. "Fine, can we just hurry up?" She pulled a Poke ball off of her belt and let out her first Pokemon. As the red light from the ball faded, a beautiful horse that had a mane made of flames. "Sorry about this Ponyta, but this rookie insisted on battling us."

Zane felt very shutdown as he let out his Snover. This was made worse by the loud cackle of the girl across from him. "Are you serious? A grass-ice type against a fire type? Gee, you'd better be careful it doesn't die from the heat my Ponyta can whip up."

"Just be quiet and battle. You can go first because I am nice enough to give you a chance." Zane thought he sounded remotely threatening, but the girl just laughed as she commanded her Ponyta to attack.

"Ponyta, finish that measly Snover with an ember attack."

Ponyta reared up on its hind legs and fired a couple small fireballs at Snover. Zane reacted quickly and ordered Snover.

"Snover, duck to the side and use razor leaf!" Snover dived to the side, only just avoiding the balls of fire, and quickly launched some blade-like leaves at the Ponyta. The leaves were a direct hit; hitting the Ponyta square in the chest and leaving some shallow cuts. Zane demanded another move of Snover while the Ponyta was getting over the sudden attack. "Snover, create a hailstorm like the one you did yesterday."

Snover stood with its arms pointing at the sky as it roared with all its might. A large cloud appeared out of nowhere, blocking out the sky above. It was as high up as the other clouds.

The female trainer acted fast and ordered Ponyta to use tackle. The Ponyta charged and Zane yelled out a command. "Snover, try to grab hold of Ponyta's leg and weigh it down."

Snover readied itself as Ponyta charged forward at an immense speed. As soon as the Ponyta was within reach, Snover lunged at its leg and wrapped itself around. Ponyta crashed down like a train wreck: unable to move its leg under the weight and power of Snover.

"Snover, pin it down and make the hailstorm as powerful as you can!"

Snover let out a massive high-pitched roar as it used all its weight to hold Ponyta down, and as it put all its power into the massive hailstorm above. The dark cloud in the sky started spitting out large chunks of ice that fell to the Earth like bricks and smashed on impact. Many of them pummelled Ponyta as it was struggling to move.

The female trainer had had enough of this and shouted out, "Ponyta, use fire spin and surround Snover!"

Zane's stomach lurched as he watched a massive fire tornado form around both Pokemon. The flame grew higher and higher, surpassing the hail cloud and completely extinguishing it. Just as Zane was about to scream an order over the enormous sound of the fire, the tower of flame jolted to the side and stopped near a large pile of industrial rocks.

"SNOVER!!"

The fire died down and Ponyta jumped back to its trainer. Snover was lying down against one of the rocks from the pile. The rock was a little larger than Snover.

"Snover! Can you hear me? Are you OK?" Zane was panicking now.

Snover shuddered a little, then managed to struggle to its feet. It was badly hurt with singed fur and mild burns. Suddenly, the female trainer spoke up. "Ponyta, finish it with an all-out tackle."

Zane could hardly believe his ears as the Ponyta broke into a speedy charge. He was still panicking and couldn't think properly. "Snover! Watch out!"

Snover didn't respond, and just stood there in a droopy pose waiting to take the attack. Zane put his hands on his head as Ponyta drew closer and closer whilst getting faster and faster.

Just as the Ponyta was about to reach its target, Snover suddenly fell to the side and landed on its hands and knees (or what counted as hands and knees). Ponyta was going too fast to stop and hadn't noticed the massive pile of rocks behind where Snover stood.

Ponyta hit the rocks head-on and at full speed. The pile hardly moved at all and Ponyta went entirely limp. Both Zane and the trainer gasped as the Ponyta hit the ground and lay still.

Zane ran to Snover as the girl ran to her Ponyta. Snover was still on its knees and panting for breath. It seemed that all that standing after being brutally engulfed in a spiral of flames really affected it. Despite suffering a massive amount of pain, Snover managed to stand on its feet: an act which the female trainer couldn't hide noticing.

After making sure that Snover was stable, Zane approached the female trainer and spoke softly to her. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen. Is Ponyta alright?"

She had tears in her eyes as she looked at him, but wiped them out before speaking. "She is hurt badly. She is breathing, but she needs help fast." She stood up, anger welling up inside her. She thought that Zane was only still here for the money that he won in the bet.

She quickly counted out one hundred Pokedollars and threw it at his chest. She recalled the Ponyta and set out at a sprint towards the city.

"Hey! Wait! What is your name?" Zane shouted out after her. She completely ignored him and he didn't get an answer at all.

Frowning slightly, he recalled Snover and picked up his money. He felt guilty taking the money, but knew that he needed it to survive. He set out for the Pokemon Centre to heal up his Pokemon and to officially meet his two new team members.

He checked his watch as he walked: it was only ten-fifteen in the morning. His stomach grumbled violently and then he spoke out loud, "Why is my luck so bad?"


	9. Imminent Devastation

**Day 3**

**Chapter 9 – Devastation Imminent**

The smooth, blue titan was facing the steely colossus. Both Pokemon were trapped inside their electrified cages at either end of Richard's newly renovated office. What had previously been the remains of a violent attack had now become a modernised room with a large curtain wall overlooking a large lake. The lake was tucked neatly inside a large mountain ridge that was covered in lush forest.

Both Pokemon were as silent as they were still. It appeared that they didn't even breathe. The blue Pokemon on the left side of the room looked different. It seemed to give off a dark purple glow. To match the glow, there were many thin veins that shone a strong scarlet colour. It looked quite demonic.

Directly opposite the curtain wall on the other side of the room, two very thick and large metal doors slid open to allow Richard access inside. He entered with his head held high. He looked like a man that had achieved a great victory. With his hands on his hips, he stared out of the curtain wall and spoke to the Pokemon either side of him. "Ah… How beautiful the view is…"

The Pokemon remained still and silent. Richard continued, "That view is so precious that I wish I could have the privilege of witnessing it for a thousand years… You see, that is the issue. As lucky as I am to experience the beauty of a mountain lake on a day like this, I will not be lucky for much longer." He thought he saw the Pokemon on the right twitch a little. "I've seen what this place becomes… I have seen the devastation that wreaks the entire world, and guess what? It was caused by the very Pokemon that we humans worship and treat like friends. I do not say that friendship with Pokemon is bad, but I do say that we must be careful. I need to prevent that forest from becoming wasteland. I need to prevent the Earth from turning into a devastation zone."

The Pokemon on the right shifted, making a noisy, metallic clunk. Richard's lip curled into a small smile. "That is why I have you. That is why I need the third. Three sacrifices to save the world sounds like a fair trade." He looked directly at the Pokemon at the right. "You see what has become of your friend over there? That is what will happen to you, and to the last of you. It is necessary to save the world." He was now raising his voice, as he stood right in front of the electric cage. "You see? Do you see, Registeel? I need to capture you in the ball, and I need to capture Regirock."

Registeel made a loud mechanical roar and Richard dived on the 'stun' button quickly, sure that the roar would cause explosions like it had last time. Registeel was shocked and was again, still.

Clearly frazzled, Richard turned and marched over to the other Pokemon's cage. He looked anxiously at the pulsing veins and the dim glow. He whispered, "I am so sorry it had to come to this… Your power is the only one that can work." With a sigh, he pulled out his cell phone and hit one of his speed dial numbers.

It rang for a moment, and then there was a pickup. Richard started, "Get together the team, we need to retrieve Regirock as soon as possible. I want a team heading out by night." With that, he ended the call and left the room.

-- -- --

Zane headed a circle of Pokemon as he sat in the sleeping area of the Oreburgh City Pokemon centre. To his immediate left sat a fully recovered (but still a little fazed) Snover. To his right, an equally fazed Geodude that had its eyes only half open. Sitting across from him, there was a curious little Shieldon that was carefully eyeing off the other Pokemon in the group.

"OK…" Zane started. "I think it is time we should all formally meet each other." He turned to Geodude. "Geodude, sitting across from you is Snover. Snover was my first ever Pokemon. To your right is Shieldon. Shieldon only hatched this morning and is the newest member of our team."

Geodude looked across at Snover and peered out the corner of its eyes at Shieldon. There were many nervous glances from all three Pokemon.

"Shieldon, meet Snover and Geodude." Shieldon made a quiet growl of acknowledgement as it tried not to look at them. Zane went on. "OK, now that we have officially met each other, I think it is time for a break."

Zane recalled Snover, then the other two into their shiny, new Poke balls. Under the care of Nurse Joy, all the Pokemon had been fed, so Zane exited the Pokemon Centre with one main objective in his mind – to take on the Oreburgh City gym.

The streets near the Pokemon Centre were becoming more and more familiar to Zane the more he walked them. Though he was getting confident finding his own way, he still set out to get directions from a sign near the shopping centre.

He followed the path he had taken the day before and eventually ended up a short distance from the front doors of the shopping centre. He stood at the foot of a massive billboard-style sign, looking at a shrunken version of the map of Oreburgh.

"_Hmm… Well if I'm here, then that means I have to follow that road past the mine entrance… Then a left and I should be there."_

The map confused him a little, but he got the jist of it and set off down the dirt road towards to outskirts of the city. It confused him that the gym would be so far out of the city, but nonetheless, he continued on his path, following the mental image of the large map. It became difficult for him to remember the turns and twists he had to take along the way.

Zane began to feel a sense of isolation and loneliness as the number of buildings slowly declined the further he got away from the bulk of the city. Loneliness was something he hadn't felt a lot in his entire life. His childhood had been spent under the watchful eye of his mother, and company of the young amateur battlers in Sandgem Town. Now, with no one to guide him, he felt vulnerable.

Before long, Zane could see the dome-shaped roof of a building in the distance. He knew right away that the building was the Oreburgh City gym. Years of reading Pokemon magazines and watching the battle channel on television had given him a crystal clear picture of what a gym building should look like.

As he drew closer and closer, the afternoon sun began to scold him painfully, increasing his desire to pass through the doors and be in the shade once more. It was with a huge sigh of relief that he walked into the shaded area outside the glass double doors of the building.

Zane looked up above the doors and admired the large steel words "Oreburgh Gym", and underneath, a plaque listing the names of all the previous gym leaders. The loneliness quickly dissipated and was soon replaced by nervousness. This was it, this was his first shot at a real-life gym badge.

He pushed open the glass door and was greeted by a narrow corridor as the only way to go. Following it slowly, his eyes lit up like skylights when he finally emerged into a large enclosed stadium. Zane struggled to take it all in. He looked around excitedly at the various features of the battlefield.

Situated at either end of the rectangular field were two massive stone platforms overlooking the battle area. Peppered across the field, there were many piles of rock in different shapes in sizes, clearly obstacles for battle. As Zane feasted his eyes on the extravagant battlefield, he slowly wandered into the middle of the stadium.

"Welcome!" a voice boomed from a narrow corridor on the opposite side to where Zane had come in. Zane, startled, jerked his head around to look at the place the voice came from. "Welcome to the Oreburgh City gym!"

He found the source of the speaking. Slowly walking out of the corridor and into the stadium, a relatively tall man wearing dirty industrial clothes and a very dusty hard hat continued speaking out to Zane. "My name is Roark, and I am the gym leader here. I take it you are here for a badge?"

"Uhh, hi. I'm Zane… Yes I am here for the gym challenge." Zane's nerves took hold of him and he seized up.

Roark gave a loud, cheerful laugh. "Haha! Your first gym then I guess. Let's get to it then!" He indicated a steep set of stone stairs that led up to the platform nearest to Zane. "Take your position. It's going to be a three on three battle."

Zane slowly ascended the steps, his nerves crippling his movement badly. When he finally stood out on the top of the platform, a fresh wave of nervousness pummelled, which was made worse by the incredibly confident Roark standing on the other side waiting to get started. Zane stood up straight, tried to relax, and muttered quietly to himself, "How am I going to beat this guy?"


End file.
